What are the literary devices used in act 2 scene 1 of Macbeth?

Answer 1

"There's husbandry in heaven, their candles are all out." (Personification)

"A heavy summons lies like lead upon me" (Simile)

"Merciful powers, restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose." (Apostrophe)

"It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes" (Alliteration)

"Come, let me clutch thee" (Apostrophe)

"That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold. What hath quenched them hath given me fire" (Parallelism)

"The very stones prate of my whereabout" (Personification)

"the wolf . . . moves like a ghost" (Simile)

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" (Hyperbole, Allusion)

"I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal for it must seem their guilt." (Pun)

Answer 2

Symbolism- "Out, damned spot!" cries Lady Macbeth in her sleep. The spots of blood Lady Macbeth dreamed she saw on her hands were symbolic of her guilt, showing that even though she tried to rid herself of her emotions and feelings of compassion ("Unsex me here"), the crime she helped to commit (The murder of Duncan) truly did affect her. In fact, it drove her to insanity.

Irony- The previous Thane of Cawdor betrayed him (The battle in the first scene of Macdonalwald and the king of Norway), so he gave the title to a man he thought to be most noble and worthy, Macbeth. Only a short time later, Macbeth murders him when he is a guest in his castle. Another example is when Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth after he has murdered Duncan, "A little water clears us of this deed". However, she later has hallucinations of a spot of blood that cannot be washed from her hand with any amount of water.

Foil- Banquo is used as a foil to Macbeth to contrast and highlight their character differences. Banquo is put in the same situation as Macbeth; the witches have predicted a great future for him, telling him he will "father a line of kings, though he will be none himself". Banquo is more valiant and worthy than Macbeth, for he is content to wait for this fate to take place, while Macbeth continues to hurt those he thinks stand in his way. This includes killing Banquo.

Pathetic Fallacy: The weather in the play often mirrors the goings-on. This is because in Elizabethan times, people believed that the state of the universe could be disturbed but a horrible act of treason, such as the murder of a good king. On the night of Duncan's murder, a thunder and lightening storm raged outside. Ross and an old man conversed about strange goings-on they had noticed. The use of pathetic fallacy has the effect of making the scenes of fear or violence more intense. The audience realizes the severity of the situation. In the first battle scene, the witches discribe "fog and filthy air", which is representative of mystery, and of how things are not how they should be (the natural order is reversed, as suggested by the line "fair is foul and foul is fair")

Mood: The mood in Macbeth is created mostly through the weather (afore mentioned), but also through the use of the supernatural. The world of Macbeth is one of malicious witches, hallucinations, ghosts, and visions. creates a sense of fear and uncertainty in the audience.

Metaphor- Many examples of metaphors are present in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth says "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it" to Macbeth when requesting that he act normally in front of Duncan and his court so as not to reveal their true intentions.

Answer 3

You can mention:

Macbeth can't bring himself to say he's murdered Banquo. "Is he dispatched?" (line 15)

Similies: As broad and general as the casing air (line 23) (he comments on his worry that everything has gone wrong and he feels confined and trapped)

Answer 4

There are many literary devices used through out the play. In this scene depicting the murder of Banquo and Fleance's escape, we see both irony and suspense. You feel the suspense in the conversation between the murders before the event takes place. We see the irony in Fleance's blown out torch providing him an escape.

Answer 5

Metonymy, Imagery, Metaphor, and Alliteration. They are all in the lines the Lord says about giving sleep to the nights and such.

Answer 6

Alliteration: "tempest-tost"

Simile: "like a rat without a tail"

Answer 7

mainly symbolism, imagery, and paradoxes

Answer 8

All of them.

Answer 9

Metaphor